Why I am a Democrat

I am a Democrat because I am a Christian. I believe human beings are created in the image of God, and are therefore worthy of more respect than we–as a community or as individuals–will be able to manage. I also believe that all people have sinned, and that this corruption has seeped into the deepest recesses of each and every heart. No person–and no institution comprised of people–is immune from the temptation to act in an evil manner when the risk of being caught is outweighed by the benefits to be gained from doing so. Lord Acton was quite right when he wrote that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Thus we must not place uncritical trust in any single person or institution–whether a government bureaucracy, a private business, or a particular political faction–but must instead seek to balance our power against any force within society with enough power to get what it wants by force rather than by negotiation. It is irrational, therefore, to seek a limited government that lets the private sector do what it pleases, since unchecked private bureaucracies can be as dangerous as unchecked public bureaucracies. Because our government is already protected by checks and balances, it is safer to err toward expanded governmental oversight than toward an unsupervised private sector.

I am also a Democrat because I am pro-life. While there are disagreements within both parties about the circumstances under which it should be lawful to take unborn life, the Democratic party is the best vehicle for ensuring that human beings are treated with dignity and protected from threats to life and liberty–whether governmental or non-governmental, human-made or natural, and out of aggression or out of neglect–from conception to natural death.